THE TOLEDO SHOW

The Toledo Show comes to Harvelle's Santa Monica with its namesake performer, Toledo, at the forefront. The listing frames the night as a staged blend of soulful singing, jazz, poetry, dance and choreography, with Toledo's voice joined by funky bass lines and horns. It describes a performance shaped as much by spoken-word storytelling and movement as by songs, with no additional performers named for this date.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Toledo began dancing at 15 and later worked as a dancer and choreographer with artists including Janet Jackson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Diana Ross, Bonnie Raitt, Al Green, George Michael and Smokey Robinson. His choreography for Us3's “Cantaloup” video received an MTV Video Award nomination. He began his music career in the underground poetry circuit, improvising with Angelo Moore of Fishbone, Trulio Disgracious and Macy Gray. The Los Angeles Times called him “The coolest Cat working in Hollywood,” while the listing characterizes his vocal approach through comparisons to Tom Waits, Marvin Gaye, Sly Stone and Barry White, and describes the music as “funked-up spoken word” and “avant jazz.”